A former bank chief executive officer (CEO) with a “Datuk” title has been remanded for three days starting today to assist in a case of receiving bribes amounting to more than RM24 million in return for approving a RM294 million loan with a local company.
The man in his 50s is the fourth suspect to be detained after three people, including a female company CEO, were remanded in connection with the same case on July 19.
Magistrate R Prabakaran allowed the male suspect to be remanded until Monday after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) applied for the remand at the magistrate’s court in Putrajaya today.
According to sources, the man was arrested at his Ipoh home yesterday about 4pm.
At the same court, Prabakaran also allowed a female company CEO to be remanded for three days starting today, while the other two suspects were released on bail of RM15,000 each.
The same source said the investigation team had recovered almost all the RM24 million proceeds with the seizure of money and assets.
It was understood that the MACC had frozen 22 bank accounts belonging to individuals and companies, amounting to about RM6.3 million believed to be linked to the case.
“The investigation team was said to have located money belonging to the main suspect, which was kept in a neighbouring country amounting to about RM16.3 million,” the source said.
The source added that all the money amounting to RM22.6 million in the case was frozen for further action and that the MACC probe was active in Kuala Lumpur, Perak and Sabah.
“The money involved was successfully detected after the investigation team analysed the asset tracking data,” he said.
Meanwhile, MACC’s Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture (AMLA) Division Director Mohamad Zamri Zainul Abidin confirmed the arrest and that the case was investigated under Section 16 (a)(A) of the MACC Act 2009.
Last Tuesday, the MACC arrested three people, including the CEO of a bank subsidiary, and remanded them for five days starting on the same day on suspicion of accepting RM24 million worth of bribes.
Those remanded were a 50-year-old female CEO, a 58-year-old unemployed man and a 53-year-old financial consultant. – NST